Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year when many of us have the opportunity to come together with friends or family members to celebrate and “give thanks” for the many things in life that we don’t typically take time to appreciate.

But for so many of our children around the world almost every day is like Thanksgiving for them. Why? Because before CHRF and our many partners could find them and help them thanks to the generosity of people like you, many of them had absolutely nothing.

We have examples from our projects all around the world of children giving thanks and appreciating many of those things that we take for granted everyday!

These children are survivors of undernourishment. Now they and their families celebrate and give thanks for being alive everyday!

Many of them, like our precious children in Haiti and Ethiopia, were on the brink of starving to death. Now their mothers and fathers are eternally grateful just to have them still alive!

These beautiful girls are survivors of one of the worst droughts in Ethiopia in decades. They give thanks for the food they have to feed each other and their families.

Many others, like our beautiful little orphans in Zambia, Mexico and Uganda were left or abandoned by their families. These children were alone, scared and desperate. But then our teams and many partners around the world were able to rescue these beautiful young children, and bring them to a place where they were fed, where they were loved, and to a place that they could call home.

Happy Children In Uganda grateful to have a place to call home and a place where they are loved!

Everyday is like Thanksgiving for these many children because they have everything to be grateful for.

Perhaps that’s why many of the children that we help, who still have very little, and maybe still only eat just once a day, can’t stop smiling! Like the beautiful children in the South Sudan who, many times, live in extremely harsh conditions but still can’t keep from finding happiness with the little that they have.

Another child who still is able to put on a wonderful smile despite what he has gone through living in South Sudan

Or how about the countless sick children and families in Honduras who are overjoyed and grateful for the lifesaving medicine and medical care they receive with the help of CHRF! Can you remember being grateful the last time you “got” to go to the doctor?

The Children eating at the new feeding program in Honduras. They can now receive proper medical attention in their home community!

But there’s still more stories of appreciation, the many children in Nicaragua who wake up excited on Sunday’s because they get to go to Church and give thanks to God.

These children wake up on Sunday’s excited to attend Church in Nicaragua!

Or like our children in Burundi who are overjoyed just to be able to go to school everyday! Isn’t that attitude just amazing? Being excited and grateful everyday because you are able to go to school!

In Burundi Families tell us that they are so grateful that their children are able to go to school!

Or finally, the thousands of children and families in Kenya that won’t stop smiling from gratitude because they now have clean water to drink! Before many of them had to walk for miles to find clean water. Sadly many of them know friends who lost their lives from waterborne diseases. But now they are so deeply grateful for something so simple as a clean cup of water!

This group of students from Kenya are overjoyed to have clean water in their community!

For these many children and families from all over, when you can emerge from such tragedy and hardship, it becomes difficult to take anything for granted.

As you take time to celebrate this holiday on Thursday please remember all of these children’s prayers and stories of appreciation and gratitude to you, our donors! From children and families all over the world, Thank You! Thank You for giving them so much to be thankful for every single day. Thank you for helping us provide hope to the hopeless. Thank you for helping us help them.

Thank you for helping provide a home, meals and an education to these beautiful children!

From all of us at Children’s Hunger Relief Fund and from our teams and partners all over the world, Happy Thanksgiving!